Monday, September 20, 2010

The ATF Is Getting Serious

A federal agency trying to stop guns from being smuggled from the United States into Mexico for use by drug cartels has formed teams in seven American cities to combat the problem.

The teams set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are a follow-up to earlier temporary groups of investigators who worked in Houston and Arizona and seized about 2,000 guns.

The permanent 10-member teams will be based in two cities in the border region — in Brownsville, Texas, and Sierra Vista, Ariz. — and away from the border where smugglers have set up trafficking routes and recruit gun buyers in Dallas, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Atlanta and Miami.

Pro gun folks have always questioned the truth behind the theory that American guns are feeding the Mexican violence. They pointed out the tricky wording in the "90% of the guns traced," idea. Some have gone further than haggling over what the actual percentage is and denied everything.

Recently Robert Farago posted an article rightly pointing out that the Mexican cartels are so rich they don't need our guns. He says "curtailing the exportation of guns from the U.S. to Mexico" will cause the gangsters to get them somewhere else. I have no problem with that.

What I find odd is his conclusion which seems to say we're allowing Calderone to blame us for his problems. Robert concluded with this: "can someone please remind me why we need the ATF."

Well, let me make a suggestion. Let's put the focus on our side of the border. Let's forget about how many guns are crossing over and what the politicians are saying about it and concentrate on the crooked FFL guys who are operating down there, like the ATF is attempting to do. I don't see it as appeasing Mexico's dysfunction at all. I see it as cleaning up our own act.

Another consideration is that unscrupulous gun dealers who are willing to turn a blind eye or break laws themselves are not just feeding guns to Mexico. These same guys are helping our own criminals arm themselves.

Even hard-core gun activists in most cases don't approve of gun dealers selling to criminals. That's what the ATF is working on stopping. They should be applauded and supported.

9 comments:

Because some crime boss in Mexico buys himself a jewel-encrusted, gold plated firearm doesn't mean they're so rich they don't need or want cheap, easily available US weapons. That argument is like the typical rightwing argument that because it snowed in North Carolina once, global warming's a hoax.

The cartels are business entities; they don't want their operating expenses to go up--it hurts the bottom line. Additionally, their are logistics concerns--transporting illegal weapons from halfway across the world is not only more costly--it also greatly risks exposure and seizure.

You are wrong Jade. Full auto weapons in the US are very expensive for civilians to own. Why would a cartel want to pay $20,000 for an old AK-47 that has a trail of paperwork and a tax stamp from a U.S. Citizen when arms dealers can sell them full auto AK-47s and AK-74s made in China for $1,200 from illegal arms dealers or get U.S. made weapons from the Mexican government even cheaper?

"FWM, Why do you have such denial about this. There are crooked gun dealers along the border and they're shipping guns to Mexico. What's so hard about that?"

There may be a few but that is not where the vast majority of the cartel guns come from. They are using full auto rifles, grenades and rockets, things that are not available for a straw purchase at the local gun store. The 90% number is rubbish.